Films are employed in a wide variety of disposable goods, such as diapers, sanitary napkins, adult incontinence garments, bandages, etc. For example, many sanitary napkins have an adhesive strip on the backside of the napkin (the napkin surface opposite to the body-contacting surface) to affix the napkin to an undergarment and hold the napkin in place against the body. Before use, the adhesive strip is protected with a peelable release liner. Once removed, the peelable release liner must be discarded. Conventional release liners may contain a film or paper coated with a release coating. Such release-coated films or papers, however, do not readily disperse in water, and as such, disposal options are limited to depositing the release liner in a trash receptacle. Although disposing of conventional release liners in a toilet would be convenient to the consumer, it would potentially create blockages in the toilet.
Flushable films have been developed that are formed from a water-dispersible polymer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,914 to Kerins, et al. describes a water-sensitive film that may include, for instance, polyethylene oxide, ethylene oxide-propylene oxide copolymers, polymethacrylic acid, polymethacrylic acid copolymers, polyvinyl alcohol, poly(2-ethyl oxazoline), polyvinyl methyl ether, polyvinyl pyrrolidone/vinyl acetate copolymers, methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, ethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose, methyl ether starch, poly (n-isopropyl acrylamide), poly N-vinyl caprolactam, polyvinyl methyl oxazolidone, poly (2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline), poly (2,4-dimethyl-6-triazinyl ethylene), or a combination thereof. Some of these polymers, however, are not thermoplastic and thus are not readily processed using thermoplastic film converting equipment. Further, these films are also not elastic and may thus be limited in their use. In response to these and other problems, attempts have been made to form water-shrinkable films from elastomeric and water-dispersible polymers. One such film is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,562 to Larson, et al. In one example, the film is formed that contains polyethylene oxide having a molecular weight of about 200,000 and an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer. Although such films are shrinkable, they nevertheless are not dispersible or disintegratable in water so as to achieve complete flushability. Furthermore the films are not elastic.
As such, a need currently exists for an improved film that is both elastic and water-sensitive in that it readily loses its integrity over time in the presence of water.